Published September 19, 2018, 10:00
PM
NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – China
set a 10 percent tariff on US liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, extending a
trade dispute into energy and casting a shadow over US export terminals that
would propel the United States into the world’s second-largest LNG seller.
Beijing on Tuesday said it would tax
US products worth $60 billion effective Sept. 24 in retaliation for tariffs
imposed by US President Donald Trump in an escalating trade war.
The rate was smaller than the 25
percent tariff China had touted earlier, which offered some relief and helped
shares in listed US LNG companies climb.
The tariffs undermine Trump’s drive
to use US shale oil and natural gas to turn the United States into a global
energy leader. The US is on track to export over 1,000 billion cubic feet (bcf)
of gas as LNG in 2018. One billion cubic feet is enough to fuel about 5 million
US homes for a day.
But China, which purchased about 15
percent of all US LNG shipped in 2017, is now on track to buy less than 100 bcf
of US LNG in 2018, less than last year, according to Thomson Reuters vessel
tracking and US Department of Energy data.
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